IN THE DAYS OF SAIL 81 



cocoa, 28 Ib. ; treacle, 28 Ib. ; currants, 8 Ib. ; raisins, 

 8 Ib. ; lard, 40 Ib. ; mustard, 4 Ib. ; pepper, | Ib. ; salt, 

 3 st. ; baking-powder, 4 Ib. ; carraway seeds, i Ib. ; 

 condensed milk, 16 tins; relish, 12 bottles; cabbages, 

 20 ; a bunch of rhubarb ; and three tanks of fresh water. 

 There were also six dozen bottles of beer on board, 

 many of which were emptied opened with a pair of 

 forks before we were out of sight of land, and only two 

 or three of which were untouched by the time we joined 

 our fleet off Heligoland. Our stock of crockery and 

 cutlery was neither large nor varied. The cutlery con- 

 sisted of a few knives and forks and a teaspoon. The 

 teaspoon was kept in the medicine - chest, but was 

 produced for my special use. 



I tried, without success, to show that the proper way 

 to make tea was not to put a handful into an enormous 

 kettle which was constantly on the fire, and from which 

 the old leaves were not removed until the kettle was full 

 to the lid and then only in sufficient quantity to make 

 room for a fresh supply of dry leaves. Long custom 

 had established the art of brewing tea and on the 

 Dogger the smacksman likes liquid with bite and body 

 in it and I did not persuade the boy to deviate. He 

 was a fine little fellow, full of talk and hope for the future 

 and the days when he would have a smack of his own 

 and be a great man. I listened and talked also, watch- 

 ing him knead some dough with which he designed to 

 produce a North Sea delicacy called " busters." These 

 were depressing discs of unleavened bread, with sinister 

 shadows, arising partly from the cook's hands and partly 

 from the smack's chronic uncleanliness. 



We seated ourselves on the cabin floor and assailed 

 6 



